True Identity
by Faith the Hylian
Summary: X and Zero need help with defeating Sigma, so naturally they call for recruits. Out of a bunch of whimps-no lie-Kal is the only one who fits the bill, though he's extremely harsh and rude with Zero. Kal's mysterious: answers questions as short as possible, is question, and has a high voice. Just what's going on here? Takes place during war 1
1. Chapter I: New Recruits

**CHAPTER I: NEW RECRUITS**

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><p><strong>The new recruits <strong>disgusted Zero. They were scrawny, wannabe reploids that kept stumbling with their weapons and yelping every time their names were called for demonstration. He was half-tempted to walk out, but that would leave his friend alone with the wannabes, and he could never be that mean. There were a _few _who could hold their own, but when put in the simulator they completely lost it. The simulator had only been at level 1.

"They're hopeless," he muttered to his friend. X chuckled weakly as he said, "T-there not _that _bad!" Zero scoffed.

"Yeah, there about as strong as a metool."

"Um... defense-wise or attack-wise? Metools have some of the best defense..." X asked. "Attack. They can't defend even as well as metools, and they're the lowest class Maverick we have scaled. These kids have no chance against the Mavericks," Zero stated. X sighed heavily.

"I hate to admit it, but you're right. Every year the crop keeps getting smaller. Half of them had forced shutdowns five minutes into the orientation speech."

"I know, I was there."

They stared at the crop of recruits with sadden eyes. _Well, there goes our chance of winning this war_. One week into the war with Sigma and all they had were a bunch of deadbeats. At this rate, they might of as well held up a white flag. Zero's compulsion to leave grew, and he turned around to answer this call. "I can't even watch them anymore," he muttered, disgust rolling off his voice. "We might as well surrender as it is." He walked up to the door, then stopped. He listened to the recruits scream, shake, some even sobbing, as they were each placed to fight a hologram Maverick in the training space. His grip tighten on the door knob. Just as he was about to open the door, X called, "Wait... Zero. I-I think we've got one!"

"X, appearance does jackshi-"

"No, come look at this guy. You have to see it to believe this..."

Zero sighed, his grip denting the knob as he let go and marched back over. He gazed out the window at the recruit who was about to go into the simulator. He had visors covering his eyes, but Zero could still vaguely see the determined look on his face. He wore blue armor top, which was more of a crop-top than an armor top, that hovered over his chest. A red X was crossed across his armor-crop-top, with a single green gem in the center. He wore a white thong with one green gem and one blue gem on the hips. Zero rose a slight brow at the sight. The recruit wore a black body suit with bulky blue boots with a single red strip running down them.

"I see what you mean..." he muttered in agreement. X nodded. "He just radiates determination and power," he commented as they rookie lunged into the simulator, unlike the others (they were pushed in). The recruit pulled out two rods from behind him, ones of which Zero and X hadn't noticed. He put them together before shifting them into place. His hands glowed red as energy sparked in the rod. The recruit lunged, stabbing at the Maverick holograms one by one. The Mavericks sparked as the rod was inserted into their weak points. Zero frowned visibly. _How does he know all of their weaknesses... it's like Sigma all over again... _he thought.

"Should we end this?" X asked, causing Zero to nod. "Yeah, I want to ask him some questions..." he muttered. X nodded as he called an end to the simulations, causing the recruits to start crying with relief. Zero gagged. They walked down to the platform and Zero glared at the recruits. "Scram," he snarled, causing them all to disappear in a cloud of dust, leaving only the blue recruit, who disconnected his rod and placed them as an X behind his back. He turned to the only two Maverick Hunters left. "What's your name?" X asked as they both walked until they were each three feet apart.

The recruit folded his arms. "Kal," he stated, his voice slightly higher than the average male. Zero caught a glance of cold, green eyes. He narrowed his own. "Well Kal," X started, "would you like to help us defeat Sigma? We need all the help we can get." A curt nod.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to join, would I?"

Zero decied to ask his long-awaited question. "Where did you learn how to fight? Who programmed it into you?" he question. X gave him an appalled look as the new hunter glanced back at them. "My creator had the experience of having someone he cared for kidnapped, and decided I shouldn't go being defenseless. Does that suit your question?" he answered, his eyes narrowed into a glare. Zero frowned to himself. _I fell like I should _**recognize **_this tone. _

"Yes."

"Good."

The hunter turned to walk out when Zero asked, "Who was your creator?" Kal didn't even look at them this time as he kept walking. "No one important, _Commander _Zero," he practically hissed out as he walked through the doors. They stared at where the new hunter walked out in confusion.

"Do you know him, Zero?"

"Did it look like I knew him, X?"

"No."

"Then that's the answer to your question."


	2. Chapter II: Arctic Freeze

**CHAPTER II: ARCTIC FREEZE**

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><p>"Freeze Penguin's base is our priority for this mission: we are to eliminate-" X winced at his own vocabulary. "-Chill Penguin at all cost, do you understand?" X informed. The other blue hunter nodded. Within the past day and a half Kal had become a hunter, he'd fit the part as most would expect. Quiet, never giving away his thoughts and emotions, and self-kept. In all truth, it unnerved X to a great extent to see someone have such a firm grip on their emotions. Even he had trouble with his wide-spread of emotions at times.<p>

"Let's get this over with."

X nodded as he signaled Zero, who was at the main computer base, to transfer them in. The blonde hunter gave them a thumbs up as he typed in the command and place, before watching them disappear in two streams of blue light. Zero shook his head. "He'll be fine," he muttered to himself. "Now... let's see where you are, _Sigma_."

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><p>The moment the two hunters arrived, they were able to run several feet before they came across a robotic rabbit, giving them the sign that they had reached their destination. Kal slashed through the rabbit with ease, not using any electricity in his staff. X had questioned Kal to find out that Kal not only had a staff (which used two main resources to energize: electricity and his own energy) and a buster. Judging by the sparking yellow, X guessed he was using electricity. He was snapped back to reality as Kal tackled him to the ground, causing a plasma shot to barely miss them. X glanced at the wall-like shooting Maverick in slight shock before turning to his savoir. He saw Kal glaring at him through his visors, just able to distinguish green eyes, like his own.<p>

"Get in the game!" Kal snapped as he jumped off X. He frowned as Kal slashed the bottom part off the Maverick, causing it to loose a stump. He shrugged, shaking off his curiosity as he fire a few shots at the Maverick, causing it to explode and take out the Mavericks behind it. They barely had time to recover as more rabbits hopped along to them, tiny guns out, and large, bee-like Maverick-bugs zoomed towards them.

"I'll take ground, you take sky," X stated as he began plowing through the bunnies. Kal didn't even nod as he began firing down the bee Mavericks like they were flies. X glanced over, noticing the strange way he fire his buster. The way he was positioned, it seemed he had a lot of practice...

_**BLAM!** _

The rabbit who was about to fire at X exploded. He risked a glance at Kal, only to find him shooting Mavericks that were airborne. He smiled to himself a bit. _He does have a-_

_**BLAM!** _

Another rabbit destroyed. X shook his head, gaining a determined look as he began rapid firing at the rabbits, slowly running and stopping his way through. Kal was a few feet ahead of him, shooting down another column-wall Maverick. It exploded, taking out the horde of rabbits behind it. He rushed ahead, not even bothering to wait for X again. "KAL!" X called as he rushed ahead to try and meet his partner. "Wait up!" He jumped up a ledge, only to find his partner standing on top of a column Maverick, shooting down bee Mavericks still.

X destroyed the Maverick with one charged shot, causing Kal to jump up and catch a ride with a bee, before directing it to crash into the ground. "Why didn't you wait?" X asked as they moved along, still shooting down rabbits as Kal shot bees down. "You were going to slow; I decided to tackle the area ahead so we could move faster," Kal answered curtly as he rushed along. "You don't have a DASH feature, so you move at an even slower pace then myself. Now hurry up, the path is clear up ahead." With that, the blue hunter took off, leaving the other blue one slightly confused. He rushed off after his partner.

_A DASH feature? _he thought as he mindlessly charged his buster, not noticing the fact they'd entered a cave. _He makes it sound like I can get i-_

**_BLAM! _**

A bat Maverick was down as Kal lowered his gun and continued running. They began jumping down ledges, X shooting at leveled bat Mavericks while Kale took down the one's in the sky. By now, his staff was back in two on his back. Few ledge-jumps later, they'd reached the bottom, of which X took down three bat Mavericks as he landed. They continued running, Kale running backward and shooting off the bat horde that had begun to chase them. "Dammit," he muttered, causing X to stop momentarily and to release his charged shot, wiping most of the bats out. Kal sent him a small nod: his way of showing thanks.

Just as they were about to jump another ledge, a spiked ball rolled upon them, causing X to push Kal out of the way this time. The hunter who was pushed scowled heavily as he took out his staff. "I don't need you're help!" he snarled as he stabbed the next ball through the center, using it to throw off the next one. Kal jumped off the ledge ahead of X, causing X to scramble up and to rush after him. He ran uphill for a bit, passing the remains of smoking Mavericks, before finding a slightly-injured Kal. Oil dribbled down his arm as he held his shoulder, seething at the dismantled spike ball.

"Kal!" X cried, speeding up to meet his partner. "Are you okay?" he asked, trying to gaze at Kal's arm. Kal just jerked away. "Let's just keep going," he hissed as he double-jumped up the ledge. X followed suit, trying to mask the worried look on his face to no avail. They ran across a thick pipeline with no enemies until they got to another jump, where two more spiked balls fell, right after the other. X rapid fired at both of them, causing them each to explode. He glanced back at Kal-the red-X-ed hunter just jumped past him again, double-jumping as he barely missed the edge.

After shooting down another spike ball and double-jumping up two more ledges, they came across a capsule. X stared at the capsule, not noticing the fact that Kal had stiffen at the sight of it. After a minute of a blurred image, an old man with a large nose, stomach, and white beard stabilized in the capsule. "So you've come," stated the capsule's hologram. X nodded slightly, not sure if it could tell or not. "X-" Said reploid blinked. "-I gave you to ability to choose your own path in life, and I hoped the world would allow you to choose a peaceful one. But now it seems you are destined to fight. Because I though the world might need a new champion, I have hidden capsules like this one. If you find and use them you'll be able to increase your powers-" The image was beginning to blur now. "-beyond anything the world has ever known. Step into this capsule and receive an acceleration system to boost your speed." Kal rolled his eyes.

"Good luck, X. And I wish you luck too, Kal," the image stated before disappearing, causing Kal to scowl as X turned his way with a confused expression.

"Don't give me that look! I don't know the old geezer," he snarled violently as he stepped around the capsule and dashed ahead. X hesitantly stepped into the capsule, instantly causing his eyes to widen as his boots began upgrading. It took less than a minute, and by the time X had stepped down from the capsule, his boots were now white with a blue foot and ankle base with a gold line in the dividing the two parts. "Kal?" X called as he began to run, only to find himself on the edge of a cliff. He blinked and staggered away in shock. _Is this that DASH system Kal was talking about? _he wondered. _It must be, I don't ever remember going _**this **_fast! _

But as X glanced around, he could see no sign of his red-X-ed partner. He glanced down into the chasm, only to find no bottom. He frowned. He came up, so there'd have to be a bottom. "Kal?" he called down. No reply. _Maybe he just went ahead, _he reasoned. _Yeah, that's probably it. He probably just went ahead without me. But still... how did that old man know him? _X DASH-ed across the ledges, being careful with his footing. Instantly on the other side he was attacked by an ostrich mechaniloid, which he shot at immediately. He blinked.

Was it him, or was his buster stronger? He fired at the next enemy (a hover bot; he had to jump to reach it) only to find normal pellets. _Does my DASH feature help my buster when I use it? That must be it! _X shot along another series of ledges he jumped down from, shooting at enemies like no tomorrow. Finally, X managed to get outside, causing him to blink in the sudden sunlight. He jumped over a large wedge of some sorts to find a mech suit. X blinked before grinning to himself and stepping inside. He charged forward, easily destroying some weird floor beam used to block the mech. He jumped twice, once over a cavern, the second over a metal pole again. He jumped over another ledge (smashing a Maverick under his mech's feet), as he punched two more on either side of him. **  
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_I see why Vile uses this thing, _he thought. _This is awesome! _X jumped over a few more ledges, before pounding a punch into another mech armor with a Maverick inside. He jumped up to one more ledge and found himself blocked. He sighed and jumped out of the suit. "I need to do that again," he muttered to himself as she dashed ahead. After double jumping up another ledge and double jumping over another stump, X shot through a... snowball? Only, it got bigger instead, causing him to jump over it. He shot at the snowball-wielding Maverick and shook his head.

"That has _got _to be the most stupidest Maverick yet," X stated as he began dashing and shooting down snowball Mavericks. As he jumped a ledge, he made the mistake of not waiting for the snowball to pass. It hit him in the chest causing him to star falling down the cavern. He gripped a ledge and fired a charged shot at the Maverick before boosting himself up. He wiped his brow. "Kal woulda' killed me if he saw that," he murmured. AT the thought of his partner's name, he turned back to were he'd came.

_I still haven't see him... what's happen to Kal? _

He had no time to think of an answer as another snowball rushed at him. He shot down the Maverick before jumping over the ledge and continued running. He stopped when he came across a door, that instantly opened up for him. He dashed inside and glanced around. Nothing. No Mavericks. No Kal either. "This must be where Chill Penguin is," X said as he rushed across the hall, charging his buster along the way. He stumbled a bit at the drop of entering the room as the door shut behind him. He glanced back before calling, "I know you're in here, Chill Penguin! Come out!"

A fat penguin dropped from the ceiling with a laugh. "X!" the penguin sqwuacked happily. "So good of you to make it! I was beginning to get bored!" X took in Chill Penguin's stance and his happy demeanor. _What was he getting bored with, is the question. _"Chill Penguin, come back to the Maverick Hunters," X called. "COme help us fight Sigma!" The penguin laughed.

"Now why would I do that!? Those humans are always berating us! I was hoping to get _you _to join _us_!"

X took a step back, completely appalled. "Why would I **_ever_ **join the likes of Mavericks?!" he demanded.

"Why, your friend seemed to accept it quite well, take a look."

"KAL!"

X froze over as a giant block of ice came into view. Inside was Kal, frozen solid as his emergency blinker flickered on and off. X glanced at his own, to see it blinking. How hadn't he noticed?! "Ah yes, came in here a while before you, but made the mistake of challenging me to a battle! Now he's as _cool _as he'll ever be!" Chill Penguin laughed loudly at his own joke as X's anger flared. "CHILL PENGUIN!"

_**BLAAM!** _

Chill Penguin went flying into a wall as X unleashed his charged shot. He growled as the penguin began firing ice balls at him. X jumped up the walls before kicking off and dive-bombing Chill Penguin. The reploid sqwuacked in surprise as X rapid-fired at the penguin, causing the Maverick to begin to smoke. Chill Penguin growled as he created a blizzard, summoning forth three life-size icicle penguins. X destroyed one, but wasn't fast enough as Chill Penguin created a blizzard, causing X to jump and collide right with the penguin and throwing both him and the icicle into a wall.

"Oof!"

His head rang as Chill Penguin began firing icicles at him again, causing him to double jump the wall. His vision split and he dropped, hitting an icicle full on as he slammed into a wall. "Haha! You can't beat me, X!" Chill Penguin taunted. "You're just a lowly B-class hunter while I was an _A-ranked_!" The epnguin laughed as he dashed across the room on his stomach, easily battering X on his gut several times.

X finally got a shot when he stopped, allowing him to send a charged shot at the annoying penguin. Chilld Penguin flew back and hit the wall, before he created another blizzard. X stiffed before glancing down. His buster was _frozen_. Chill Penguin laughed as he slid across the floor. X jumped up onto the walls before dive-bombing the penguin again with his frozen buster. There was a metal-on-cracking-ice-metal sound as Chill Penguin began smoking even worse. "No! No I can't have lost!" he cried as his stomach began glowing. The penguin gave one last "SQWUACK!" as he exploded, causing X to shield his face with his arm.

He panted for a few moments before going to grab the weapon Chill Penguin used. His buster felt heavy as he took the chip for the Shotgun Ice attack. He glanced at Kal and rushed over as the ice began thawing. "Kal!" He caught the blue, red-X-ed hunter as he fell to the ground, breathing heavily. "God... dammit," he muttered, sounding girly as he was out of breath. "Shouldn't... have let... my guard... down..." Kal's eyes shut as his emergency power began circling through his systems to try and heat up his frozen wires and parts. X sighed heavily as he placed his partner on his back.

"Hey Zero, can you bring us back?"

The next moment the two disappeared in a blue beam.

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><p>"I can't believe he wen ton without you!" Zero ranted as he began chipping ice off X's buster. "You were partners! You don't leave partners behind like that! He should have remained in that ice block, he deserved it! Going off to face Chill Penguin, I outta' slaughter him..."<p>

"N-Now, now Zero," X stated wearily as he glanced at Kal. He had tons of wires sticking out from his helmet as he breathed softly. "I think he just wanted to finish the mission as fast as he could-"

"By leaving you behind!?"

"Well..." X trailed off." He started loosing his temper (if you can even call it that) when we came across this capsule. I think he's not telling us something. The man not only knew me, but Kal as well..." Zero stared at Kal for a few minutes before scoffing. "Yeah right, if the man was that nice than Kal couldn't know him. His heart's as cold as ice."

"Zero!"

"What, it's the truth?"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Kal felt like something broke inside of himself. <em>I knew I should never have trusted those idiots. <em>


End file.
